Nearly 80 pct of Americans support diplomatic ties with N.K. after denuclearization: poll

Nearly 80 percent of Americans support establishing diplomatic ties with North Korea should the regime abandon its nuclear weapons program, a survey showed Monday.

According to the poll commissioned by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 77 percent of Americans are in favor of such a concession, along with providing economic and humanitarian aid to the North at 54 percent.

In other concessions, a partial withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea received 54 percent of support, while less than a majority (44 percent) were in favor of canceling joint military exercises between South Korea and the U.S., and 18 percent backed a complete withdrawal of the 28,500 troops.

The survey, conducted among 2,046 adults in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., from July 12-31, also found that the majority of the American public (77 percent) support tightening economic sanctions on the North in the event that it does not denuclearize.

Less popular options to respond to the North keeping its nuclear weapons were conducting air strikes on the nuclear facilities (37 percent) and striking a deal with the North to cap its nuclear arsenal at the current level (29 percent).

Allowing Pyongyang to keep and continue producing nuclear weapons was the least popular option at 13 percent.

The survey was sponsored by various organizations, including the Korea Foundation, and had a margin of error of 2.37 percentage points.

Its publication comes as the U.S. and North Korea are in negotiations to implement a denuclearization agreement reached by U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at their historic Singapore summit in June.

Kim committed to work toward "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S.